


Gravity

by shir-no (iguanastevens)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Study, M/M, atmospheric ficlet, written as a gift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 08:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15166319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iguanastevens/pseuds/shir-no
Summary: This isn't a story about how Keith learned to fly.This is a story about how he learned to fall.





	Gravity

        Keith was the best pilot in the Garrison.

        He knew this. Even on his worst days, he knew this.

        It had never been a choice. No one was there to catch him when he fell, so Keith learned how to fly. He learned how the air wrapped around him and teased at his hair, welcomed him into the same bright emptiness of the desert that would always feel like home, and how the engine's electric hum sounded more like a love song than anything crooned from a crackling radio.

        Sometimes he looked at the stars. He heard his father's low voice between their lights, their distant promises, the hushed moonlit wishes as they streaked across the sky.

 _What did you wish for?_ Keith would always ask. His father only smiled, slow and gentle and sad..

 _You have to keep some wishes a secret,_ he'd reply. _When it comes true, I'll tell you._

        Keith didn't whisper his secrets to shooting stars anymore. As long as he could fly, it didn't matter that there would be no one to catch him when he fell.

        This isn't a story about how Keith learned to fly.

        This is a story about how he learned to fall.

        It started with a soft, steady gaze and soft, steady words.

_I'll never give up on you, Keith._

        The ground below him never grew any gentler. Later, in the dark, lonely nights, it taunted him. _Give up,_ it screeched, _give up give up give up._

        He steeled himself against it.

_You should never give up on yourself._

        In the end, it didn't matter to Keith that there would be no one to catch him, to catch them, as Shiro dangled below him. _I love you,_ he'd said, and he'd been falling since that moment, since Shiro's eyes had widened for just a second, since the searing gash had been burned into his cheek and left embers smoldering in his hollow chest. _I love you. You are my everything._

_I'll never give up on you._

        Shiro was there to catch him.


End file.
